Welcome to the FRD Center business blog. The FRD Center website is www.frdcenter.ro Email: europa@frdcenter.ro Tel: +4021 4111459 .... Are you looking for market expansion to Eastern Europe? To acquire a local player, to export, relocate, invest in emerging markets in Europe such as Romania, Poland etc.? What do you know about these markets? Are you looking for qualified local importer-distributors? Are you looking to consolidate your presence in the market, to manufacture and/or increase sales?

Tuesday, 26 August 2014

Investment in Romania - risk or opportunity?

In the current market and political conditions in Eastern Europe, are you considering investing in this region? Then here are some data that might interest you. In May, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services upgraded Romania's ratings to investment grade citing rapid progress in external position. The country’s long-term sovereign bond rating was raised one step to BBB-, the lowest investment grade, which puts it on par with Russia, Brazil and Spain.The Agency considered that this reflects Romania's rapid progress in improving its external balances. S&P expects the nation's progress toward consolidating the fiscal accounts and bolstering financial sector stability to continue.Three of the main strong points of Romania are:- A relatively large domestic market;- A skilled and inexpensive workforce;- Its membership of the European Union (since 2007) and its future adoption of the Euro as currency (2019).Here are a few examples of recent foreign investments:In June, Somaco Group, owned by Oresa Ventures, acquires for 8 million EUR the Romanian company Europrefabricate - its two production facilities in Timisoara and, respectively, Targoviste.In July, Travelport American Group, a world leader in the area of travel commerce, announced the purchase of the B2B Hotelzone, a Romanian hospitality technology provider while Facebook acquires for 500 Million USD the Romanian player LiveRail specialised in on-line delivery of video ads.In August, GDF SUEZ Energy became majority shareholder of Congaz in Romania, by increasing its shareholding from 28.59% up to 85.77%.Foreign direct investment in Romania in 2013 reached the highest level in four years at 2.7 billion euro, while in Q1 2014 it totalled 570 million euro, up 30.1% from a year earlier.Are you looking to make an acquisition or a greenfield investment in Romania? Perhaps we should talk.In the meantime, feel free to consult and download the FRD Center presentation “Doing Business in Romania”

For tailor-made market research and opportunity analysis, acqusition target search, as well as B2B matchmaking with players in Romania and the emerging markets in Europe, feel free to contact FRD Center team at:

What Clients say about us

Fred van der Meer, Ministry of Economic Affairs, The Netherlands The FRD Center organized for my group of 16 companies, custom-made business meetings, all resulting in potential future business.

Rob Costongs, Marketing Manager at C&H Maastricht (The Nederlands)Jackie and her team at FRD organised the matchmaking during the trade mission of the Dutch government in Romania. We from C&H Maastricht were very satisfied with the number and quality of the companies that FRD had researched for us and met us during the trade mission.

Ender Bozkurt, Board Member @ Novatemed Innoceuticals A.S. & Private Investment Advisor (Turkey) The FRD Center team are very knowledgeable and experienced. They run a very well structured execution plan for the service they provide. Even though we were behind the schedule when consulted them, they put things together in a short time without any flaw and they followed-up until completion of the project. I would recommend FRD Center for your market entry endeavours and I ensure you that you will get results thanks to their professional manner and the high degree of quality service they provide.Yoav Rottenberg, Business Manager - Europe at Naton Medical Group (China)"Jackie and FRD Center helped our company with our business development in Romania. They provided us with valuable information regarding the key players in the market and were very successful in locating potential customers for us and arranging the meetings. They did all this in a very short period of time and for a very reasonable price. I highly recommend.”

Top qualities: Great Results, Good Value, On Time

David Butler, Country Manager, Hungary & Romania, Enterprise Ireland (Ireland)“I wish I knew 10 Jackies! Extremely hardworking, professional, resourceful and full of initiative, she's also very thoughtful and lots of fun to work with - I can't recommend her highly enough.”

Marianne Vandenbosch, EMBA Program Manager, IMD Lausanne (Switzerland)"FRD Center worked with the IMD Executive MBA program, helping us to develop and deliver our discovery expedition to Bucharest. Their in depth knowledge of Bucharest and of doing business in Bucharest was very helpful to us. The FRD Center team are very reliable and deliver what is promised. Working with them over a number of years, they were able to offer better service each time. FRD Center teamare very reliable and willing to go the extra mile to make sure everything works out as planned."

Lau Brüniche-Olsen, Business Development Consultant, Confederation of Danish Industry (Denmark)“I can give Jackie Bojor and the FRD Center my best recommendations. I have worked with Jackie and several occasions and have been most satisfied with her work and professionalism.”

Mike Stout, International Franchise Development Director, CKE Restaurants (USA)“Jackie and her team are very knowledgable of the Romanian market. Jackie went beyond expectations in arranging meetings with potential candidates for our franchise concept, including meeting with all candidates and pre-screening. Should we enter the Romanian market, we certainly plan to use Jackie and her team for consumer research and other areas that can benefit a successful launch of our brand."

Jonathan Taylor, Business Development Director, Hanson plc (UK)“I would recommend using Jackie for market entry work in Romania. Her team can produce good, quick results and is very friendly and accommodating.”

Philip Martin, Product Development Manager, Faessler AG (Switzerland)“It was a great pleasure to work together with Jackie and her team. We as a company were looking for a distributor in the Romanian market. Since we're active in a very specific market the task was not easy at all. But the dedication to our project from Jackie and her team was great and they identified our needs clearly and brought us the right results.”

Paul Thompson, International Trade Adviser, Chamber of Commerce Herefordshire & Worcestershire (UK)"I have known Jackie for several years and meet with her whenever I am in Bucharest. I have used the services of FRD Center on several occasions and have also referred companies and can, without question, confirm that any work has always been undertaken in a very friendly and professional manner. I have no doubts about recommending FRD Center".Michel Gagnon, President of Davier Consultants (Canada)“More and more Canadian companies are interested in Eastern Europe and see the potential of the region. We have been able over the last few years to assist our Clients in identifying and securing a relationship with reliable Romanian companies, either as a partner, licensee or franchisee, and all these projects were carried out in cooperation with our exclusive partner for the area, FRD Center"